Experimental Walking Tour in Paris: A Dialogue between Artists and Cartographers

Exploring visible and invisible borders in Paris – a dialogic walk with cartographers and artists

Monday, july 4th, 5pm – 10pm
Meeting point: Palais de Congrès, Porte Maillot (exact meeting point will be announced soon)

During an experimental journey through the nearby neighbourhoods of Paris, cartographers from various countries and Paris based artists (for example: dancers, actors, textile designers, architects, painters etc.) will solve together a creative task and hence enjoy a hopefully intense exchange of ideas along the way. Both fields – the arts and cartography – will contribute to a sharpining of different reception modes while walking and driving through Paris’ urban space.
Mixed groups of cartographers and artists will be send out to places and areas where invisible and visible borders, limits, ruptures of the Paris topography can be witnessed (inspired by Eric Hazan’s wonderful book “The Invention of Paris. A History told in footsteps”, 2002).

For that purpose three different parcours will be prepared and a folder with quotations, hints and maps along with some tools and devices for the documentation process will be provided.

Around 8pm the groups are supposed to gather in LA RUCHE (a co-working space at 84, Quai de Jemmapes: http://www.la-ruche.net). There, a series of largely plotted maps of the given areas is prepared, so that the sketches, notes, photos, objects can be arranged and labelled in the sense of a collage.
Some food and wine will be offered. A professional photographer accompanies the activities of this experimental workshop and will provide the participants with a selection of pictures afterwards. The participants of the workshop will get a list of contact details in case they wish to stay in touch with each other for further meetings.

Number of participants is limited: Please register via: barbara.piatti@wiko-berlin.de

The map displayed above is the Nouveau Plan de Paris divisé en 20 Arrondissements (1860, drawn by Charles Smith). Each arrondissement is carefully hand tinted in a different pastel colour. A subsequent owner drew in lines indicating the placement of the new, wider boulevards (planned by Baron Haussmann). The map reflects Haussmann’s power and determination as he remodelled Paris from a medieval city to a modern one (copy of University of Illinois, Chicago).

6 comments

The group investingating the area of “La Goutte d’Or” has crossed a visible and invisible border between a bourgeois urban space with children in the playground and tourists walking around and a cosmopolitan space with crouded streets full of faces, colours, smells, sounds (voices and music!!) and objects coming from all around the world. There, I have experienced the sense of a cosmopolitan city but at the same time I had the feeling of a community searching for the recognition of its cultural background (I saw my first urban ecomuseum!!!!).
I wish to thank my journey companions: Chris-Chris, Cristine, Cécile et Anika for this pleasant discovering. And last, but not least, sorry Anika for “deconstructing” your map…. Ciao a tutti, Federica Burini

Thanks to Barbara and Anika for organising a wonderful event, and a special thanks to Chris, Cristine, Federica, Cécile and Anika for walking with me. The workshop was a great chance to experience some incredibly diverse parts of Paris and meet, discuss and share approaches with people from a range of disciplines.